Saturday, June 21, 2008

Cataratas, Goodbye's, & The Sabbath

Here we have the Pulhapanzak Catarata --> waterfall! There are no words to describe my experience at this beautiful place...

Jess and I were pretty content and amazed at just looking at the wonder.... but we stumbled upon an American that convinced us that looking was not enough! There were tour guides that take you down into the waterfall... for only 100 limpiras (5 dollars)!! We knew that there was no way that we would be happy with ourselves if we did not do it, so we went for it! I truly have no words to describe the experience it was to climb down to the waterfall and then stand under it! Jess and I just kept looking at each other saying "WOW, OH MY, I'M SO GLAD WE DID THIS, THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!" I felt like I was standing right in the midst of all of God's glory and I was so glad that Jess was with me! The first jump we made was only about a 5 footer... a height I was pretty comfortable with. The second jump was after we had walked under the waterfall and come back up to the same lagoon, except for it was about an 8 ft jump.. still comfortable with that. Our guide asked us after we made the last jump if we wanted to go up to another waterfall. Of course we agreed and it was a pretty intense little hike.. barefoot and all :) As we came back down from the highest point, we needed to jump off of a rock about 25 ft from the lagoon! Jess and I both looked at each other and we just just pretty much agreed that we HAD TO DO IT.. gotta love an adrenaline rush, haha! After that nice little jump we went down some more to where we could jump off of a cliff that was over the river, this one was not as high as the other only being about 20 ft from the water. I wouldn't have known that it was shorter, except for the guide told us after he saw the looks of uncertainty on our faces. BUT the fearlessness took us over again and we jumped! PHENOMENAL EXPERIENCE! Words are not good enough...nothing will ever be able to top what I felt as I stood under that waterfall... God and His glory were displayed to me in a way that I have never seen or experienced before! I praise the Lord for His beautiful creation and for a wonderful friend to experience it with! Unforgettable..


Jess and I with our guide from the waterfall, Salvador.



My sweet sisters :)

Later on that evening, Osmany took the truck to a town nearby to check out a Christian bookstore. Well, Osmany made it back to the Hotel at Lago de Yajoa coasting into the parking lot with a broken clutch. This presented a huge problem for us considering we had to be at the airport on Saturday morning. Jennifer and Osmany tried calling everyone that they knew to come get us to take us to the airport in San Pedro Sula but no one answered. Finally, Pastor Roger answered his phone! He agreed immediately to send someone to get us in their new vehicle that belonged to his church in Jesus de Otoro. I'm telling you guys.. GOD IS SO GOOD! If Osmany had not taken the truck we would have broken down on the way to the airport the next morning, the Lord was taking care of us! We had a devotional Friday night and Osmany shared from His heart about all of the trials that we had been facing and the Lord spoke to my heart. Here is what I have been able to gather....with some help from Elisabeth Elloit's book "Passion & Purity" :) The amazing thing about our victory as believers is that it doesn't always come from the escape of trials. The Apostle Paul endured public flogging, starvation, and many other things.. he did not escape trouble, yet he was able to say he was winning the victory through Jesus. We have such a limited vision when it comes to love, most of us cannot imagine a love that does not protect us from suffering. The love of God does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not even protect His own Son.. that was the proof of His love. He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. These things that we walked through: no electricity for days, the car breaking down, the man approaching us in Panes, are not as extreme as Paul's public flogging but what really matters when it comes to suffering is that we make the right use of it. We have to take advantage of the sense of helplessness it brings to turn our thoughts to God. TRUST is the lesson! (Elisabeth Elloit, Passion & Purity). 1 Peter 5:10 says, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." If all of the struggles and sufferings were taken away.. where would the victory be and how would we ever grow? There is no victory without first fighting a battle... and how would you know joy when you do not know suffering?

Saturday proved itself to be pretty eventful as well... Jess and I woke up abnormally early and could not go back to sleep. The ride to San Pedro Sula was supposed to arrive at the hotel at 8 am, but because we are in Honduras, he did not come until 9. This put us getting to the airport later than we would have liked but we still enjoyed the ride in a nice air-conditioned vehicle :)

From what I hear... the bunny has been in the United Sates and Africa already, so it had to make its debut in Honduras as well :)



We were about 10:15 making it to the airport with Jess's flight leaving out at 11:50. NOT ENOUGH TIME!!! We waited in line with Jess, Jamie, and Sarah for over an hour trying to get their boarding passes and their luggage checked. The airport is super busy right now because of the airport in Tegucigalpa being closed.. so there were 3x as many people than there would normally be! Jess had to unload some things out of her suitcase to make it under 50 lbs because they would not let her pay because there was not enough time. So in the midst of cramming the backpack full of souvenirs and running to the other side of the airport to get them up to their gate, there was not much time to say goodbye. We got to the ramp and they wouldn't let us pass with her because of the outrageous number of people so we hugged and said a few last words and off she went! Jennifer, Rebeca, and I watched her through the glass windows until she made it through security. Jess told me that as soon as she walked up to the gate to get on the plane they were making the last boarding call! TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT PEOPLE!!! But, as always, the Lord got her on the plane at just the right time!

Pastor Roger's son drove us back to Siguatepeque on Saturday afternoon. It was weird to come back home to an empty house after all of the hustle and bustle that had filled it's walls for the past 4 weeks. The electricity was back on... and we discovered that the refrigerator and most of the other electrical appliance (except for Jenn's computer) had been spared during the power surge on Wednesday night.... so that was a positive note :)

Sunday morning we woke up to no electricity again. Surprise, Surprise!! Later we found out that it was a scheduled outage and that it would not be back on again until 4 30 pm. So that meant that I had a whole day to try to pass with NOTHING TO DO! At first it was hard, really hard, but I resolved to spend the rest of the day resting in the Lord. I was able to spend it praising Him through song, reading His Word, reading Passion and Purity, and praying about the things that were so heavily on my heart. About the time I was wrapping it up, 4 30 pm, the electricity was back!

This is my last week here in Honduras and I can hardly believe it is time to move on to a different phase of ministry for the summer! On Saturday morning I will be flying out of San Pedro Sula at 7 05 am to head to Nicaragua! I will be meeting a group from my church at home to serve with them for 2 weeks! I am really excited about getting to see Nicaragua but even more excited about my reunion with my church family!

Please pray for me as I strive to "be all here" during these last 4 days of life here in Siguatepeque. I just want the Lord to use me..

11 comments:

Leslie Young said...

Yay for updates! Glad to hear more about the fun waterfall -- and the exciting trip to the airport. I'm really glad I didn't know anything about that until my Jess was safely home! We miss you and we talk about you and look at pictures of you all the time! Loved the Bec & Jess video, too!!! Praying for you!

Anonymous said...

I love you and miss you so so much, and am praying for you every day!! Keep resting in the Lord, electricity or not!!
Give Rebeca a big kiss for me!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the words of encouragement I received from reading your blog today.
I know that God still has alot more in store for you over the next few weeks.
God bless you and keep you!
love,
mrs. fran

Anonymous said...

I am so proud of you. you can do it!
I love you so much... and the waterfall looks like fun. I wonder if we can find any water falling around here? hehe, I'm only joking!

I love you, and the cute pics. I can't wait to see more!

Anonymous said...

Jessica!! i love you very much and miss you! Im praying for you and sending you a big HHHHHUUUGGGG! and lots-a-love with that hug! So have fun and you just keep shining like always! =]

Christin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christin said...

what an overwhelmingly incredible update! God is so Amazing! you were right about the pic of the waterfall; it is beautiful but I'm positive it doesn't compare to reality! and i still can't believe you crazy girls jumped off the 25 foot rock! What an exquisite landscape He has created for us to enjoy! "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." Revelation 4:11

we talked about the "STORMS (trials) in our lives" last week in bible study when we watched the NOOMA "Rain". what an awesome fact to know that even through the storm, that HE is right there with you. that is the Beauty of the Lord! all praises be to Him for everything you all have faced recently.

I'm continuing to pray for you throughout these last 4 days in Sigua. May He give you the strength physically, mentally, & spiritually to enjoy His country & minister to the people there, while also continuing to be His Love & Light also learning more intimately who He is!

te amo moi!

Anonymous said...

JESS!!! oh that waterfall was B-E-A-utiful!!!i would have so jumped too!!! i miss you sooo much!!! i am praying for you! can't wait to see you!!!I LOVE YOU!!

Christin said...

your blog-stalkers have taken up a vote...and the consensus is:

one more blog update before you leave for nicaragua!

Leslie Young said...

I second Christin's motion!!!
We love to hear from you and we will SO miss the updates while you're out of internet range in Nicaragua!

Anonymous said...

agreed.
chop chop!